Bulgaria

Bulgaria is a country in south Eastern Europe, with a territory of 110,994 square kilometres. It is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, and the Black Sea to the east.Bulgaria is a unitary parliamentary republic with a clear division of powers.

The Bulgarian Parliament - The National Assembly is a one-chamber parliament. Parliament's powers and tasks include adopting laws, controlling the executive, approving the budget, scheduling presidential elections, electing and recalling the prime minister and other ministers, proclaiming war, deploying troops outside Bulgaria, and ratifying international treaties and agreements. Since 2006, the National Assembly has elected an ombudsman who advocates the rights and freedoms of citizens.

The President of the Republic is elected directly for a 5-year term. He/she is the head of state, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, and Chairman of the National Security Advisory Board.

The Government of Bulgaria (the Council of Ministers) manages and implements the domestic and foreign policies of the country. The Council of Ministers directs the implementation of the state budget, organizes the care for public goods, concludes, approves and denounces international agreements, in cases defined by laws. The Council of Ministers and the Prime minister are appointed by the Parliament.

Bulgaria has a typical civil law legal system. The judiciary is overseen by the Ministry of Justice. The Supreme Administrative Court and the Supreme Court of Cassation are the highest courts of appeal and oversee the application of laws in subordinate courts. The Supreme Judicial Council manages the system and appoints judges.

Bulgaria's population is mainly concentrated in the administrative centres of its 28 provinces. Most commercial and cultural activities are centred in the capital and largest city, Sofia.

Organisational Structure and Background

According to the Law on Measurements (effective since 2002, revised in 2005) the governmental policy in metrology is executed by the Bulgarian Institute of Metrology (BIM) and the State Agency for Metrological and Technical Surveillance (SAMTS).

BIM is the national metrology institute and responsible for the execution of national metrology legislation.

Currently BIM consists of four main directorates:

Directorate General "National Centre of Metrology" (DG "NCM")") is a part of the specialized administration of BIM which is responsible for maintenance of national measurement standards, traceability and dissemination of measurement units;

Directorate General "Measures and Measuring Instruments" (DG "MMI") is a part of the specialized administration of BIM, which carries out activities on realization of legal control of measuring instruments, - initial verification and the reverification of measuring instruments in use; verification of petrol vapor recovery systems; authorisation and surveillance of verification laboratories of petrol vapor recovery systems, initial and subsequent verifications of electronic systems with a fiscal memory; metrological expertise of measuring instruments.

Directorate "Testing of Measuring Instruments, Devices and Equipment" is a part of the specialized administration of BIM, which carries out type approval of measuring instruments, control of gambling machines and fiscal devices, registration of services for fiscal devices, conformity assessment of non-automatic weighing instruments and measuring instruments , calibration of some types of measuring instruments, and testing of products for electromagnetic compatibility;

SAMTS is responsible for: supervision of manufacturers, importers, repairers and users of measuring instruments subject to control under the Law on Measurements; authorisation and surveillance of verification laboratories; market surveillance on measuring instruments under MID and NAWI; control of prepackages and MCB. These activities are performed by Directorate General “Metrological Supervision” (DG “MS”). DG “MS” is also responsible for: approval and surveillance of tachograph workshops under Council Regulation (EEC) No 165/2014.

In addition, two national advisory bodies have been established:

National Council of Metrology to the Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism for reviewing drafts of legislation, programs and concepts for metrology development;

Scientific Council of Metrology to the President of BIM for reviewing drafts within the long-term development programme for the national measurement standards, the national system of certified reference materials.

The first Law on Weights and Measures in Bulgaria was adopted in 1888. Bulgaria joined the Metre Convention in 1910 and OIML in 1956.

BIM signed the Memorandum of Understanding of WELMEC and is a member of EURAMET.

Equipment Subject to Legal Metrological Control

Material length measures

Automatic weighing instruments

Non-automatic weighing instruments

Clinical thermometers

Heat meters

Blood pressure measuring instruments

Pressure gauges used in high-risk equipment and rail transport

Water meters

Measuring systems for liquids other than water

Gas volume meters and conversion devices

Automatic level gauges systems

Brake testing equipment

Alcohol meters and alcohol hydrometers

Thermometers for use in alcoholometry

Opacimeters

Vehicle exhaust emission meters

Dosimeters

Taximeters

Various instruments and systems in the field of ionising radiation for personal safety, health and environmental protection

Electric energy meters

Instrument transformers

Electrocardiographs

Clocks for multi-tariff energy meters

Audiometers

Speed meters for traffic control

Evidential breath analysers

Foci meters

Type Approval

Type approval of legally controlled measuring instruments is performed by BIM. Type approval is carried out at the stage of manufacturing or import of those instruments. According to the current legislation, national type approval is mandatory to several categories of measuring instruments:

The reverification intervals are determined on a proposal of the President of BIM and laid down in an ordinance of the President of SAMTS, which is published in the State Gazette. The reverification intervals for some categories of measuring instruments are:

Water meters

2 years or 5 years depending on the nominal flowrate

Heat meters

2 years or 5 years depending on the place of installation

Gas meters

2 years or 4 years depending on the type

Electricity meters

1 to 6 years depending on the type of operation (direct or transformer operated)

Weighing instruments

1 year or 2 years depending on the accuracy class

Traffic control speed meters

1 year

Vehicle exhaust emission meters

1 year

Fuel dispensers

1 year

For utility meters there is a possibility to extend the reverification interval by applying statistical sampling methods.

The maximum permissible errors for measuring instruments in service are generally the same as the ones for initial verification.

The fees for all metrological services within BIM are determined in a tariff adopted by a governmental decree. The authorised verification laboratories set their own verification fees.

Legal Metrology Practitioners and Scope

176 employees of BIM are in charge of legal metrology activities in the country. 20 of them carry out testing and other activities needed for the type approval process, and 156 deal with initial verification and reverification as well as metrological expertise of measuring instruments.

The personnel of DG MS consist of 72 engineers, physicists and chemists who perform all tasks of SAMTS related to legal metrology. They have past training in EN ISO/IEC 17025 and EN ISO 19011. The majority of inspectors have previous experience as verification officers.

Sanctions

Sanctions are based upon a system of administrative penalties imposed by SAMTS. The amount of the financial penalties varies from € 100 to € 7500 depending on the violation nature, extent and repeatability.

In case of fraud criminal prosecution is possible.

New Legislative Framework in the Field of Metrology

Approach used for adopting the harmonised European technical legislation in Bulgaria is through a law, namely the Law on technical requirements to the products. Under this law, there are several national ordinances, which transpose the New Approach technical directives, including NAWID and MID.

There are no formal gravity zones /as referred in Annex II point 7.2/ established in Bulgaria. NAWI must respect the required MPE at the place of use.

SAMTS is in charge of market surveillance and designation of notified bodies.

Directive 2014/32/EU (ex 2004/22/EC) Measuring Instruments

This Directive is transposed for all categories of measuring instruments except for the dimensional measuring instruments.

BIM has been notified for Module D and Module F of water meters, gas meters, active electrical energy meters, thermal energy meters and measuring systems for liquids other than water as well as Module D for conversion devices.

SAMTS is in charge of market surveillance and designation of notified bodies.